Committee Considers Ways To Prevent De Facto Mud Springs Bypass

Payson's traffic committee tonight will mud wrestle what has turned into the Great Debate in town politics -- can Mud Springs connect to Highway 260 without creating a dangerous bypass nightmare for residents?

The Surface Transportation Advisory Committee will hold a hearing on problems and solutions swarming around a proposed $1.1-million extension of Mud Springs to Highway 260 at Frontier Elementary School, starting at 6 p.m.

STAC will present proposals from town engineers for "traffic-calming" approaches like signs, striping, gates, radar enforcement and other measures to prevent people from turning off congested highways and using the new route to go from Highway 260 to the Beeline.

The issue has inspired a series of crowded council sessions and shifting council votes that have pitted the concerns of people living along Phoenix Street who fear the creation of a de facto bypass against the pleas of people in other neighborhoods for a relief to congestion and a quicker route to the highway.